Scottish Executive

Crime

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to page 24 of Building a Better Scotland Spending Proposals 2005-2008, under which section of Table 4.01 funding will be allocated for the training of prosecutors in dealing with environmental and wildlife crime.

Colin Boyd, QC: The expectation is that the prosecution of environmental and wildlife crime will be through Summary court business. Accordingly, funding for the training of prosecutors in dealing with environmental crime is allocated to this section.

Justice

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual cost of a sheriff is, including salary, pension and other emoluments.

Cathy Jamieson: £159,218, including employer’s National Insurance and superannuation contributions.

Mental Health

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what help and support is available for patients diagnosed with oppositional defiance disorder.

Andy Kerr: This is a matter for local service providers. The information requested is not available centrally.

  A Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service Framework is being developed to assist local agencies in assessing their services and identifying goals and milestones to secure continuous improvement. A draft for consultation will be issued shortly.

  A range of educational provision is also available, including Learning Support, auxiliaries, educational psychology and behaviour support.

Prison Service

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners who have participated in the STOP programme have reoffended within (a) six months, (b) one year and (c) two years of release in each year since the inception of the programme.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  Information is not available in the form requested. The information currently available on returns to custody in Scotland is contained in SPS Research Bulletin 22. Analysis of sexual and violent re-offending among different types of sexual offenders was published by the SPS in a 2004 research paper Sexual Offending in Scottish Prisons by Cooke and Pedersen, reporting research was part of an international project funded by the European Commission.

Prison Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9015 by Cathy Jamieson on 30 August 2004, whether there were any other reasons for the delay in providing the information requested other than commercial confidentiality.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  No.

Prison Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to transfer the post or the powers of the controller of HM Prison Kilmarnock to the prison operator.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  No.

Prison Service

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners died while in prison in each of the last five years, stating the prisoner’s age in each case.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The numbers of prisoners who died in SPS custody in each of the last 5 financial years and the age range they fall into is given in the following table.

  

Year
Under 21
21-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
60 and over
Total


1999-2000
1
12
4
3
2
4
26


2000-2001
3
5
4
2
0
2
16


2001-2002
4
4
8
0
0
2
18


2002-2003
1
1
5
4
3
2
16


2003-2004
0
1
5
6
2
5
19

Prison Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what statutory authority Reliance employees have within the bounds of properties of the Scottish Court Service.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  Prisoner Custody Officers employed by Reliance Custodial Services have statutory powers and duties as laid down in Section 104 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

Prison Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what authority Reliance employees have to take into custody a prisoner who is unlawfully at large.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  None: This remains a matter for the police.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9015 by Cathy Jamieson on 30 August 2004, why the costs given did not include the opportunity costs of assigning prison officers to escort duties.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  Because such costs are not readily quantifiable.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9015 by Cathy Jamieson on 30 August 2004, whether it includes in the cost of risks associated with escort duties the cost of recapturing an escaped prisoner.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The costs given in the answer to question S2W-09015, answered on 30 August 2004, do not include the cost of recapturing an escaped prisoner. All answers to written PQs are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8514 by Cathy Jamieson on 8 June 2004, when it will begin publishing the monthly performance summary of the operation of Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd in escorting prisoners.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  This information was placed on the SPS website on 13 September 2004 and was the subject of a Press Release issued by SPS on the same date.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8450 by Cathy Jamieson on 8 June 2004, what incidents involving (a) staff misbehaviour and (b) prisoner indiscipline it considers to be significant in respect of the Escort Monitor’s report on the Reliance contract.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  None since the contract commenced.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8485 by Cathy Jamieson on 8 June 2004, how many prison officer hours have been released from prisoner transport duties as a result of the contract with Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd for the provision of prisoner escort and court custody services and why this information was not given in the answer.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The answer to S2W-8485, answered on 8 June 2004, gave the information then available. The position has not changed.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9476 by Hugh Henry on 28 July 2004, who met the costs of this staff commitment and what those costs were.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The costs of the escort service were part of the monthly payment paid to Kilmarnock Prison Services Ltd (KPSL) by the SPS.

  SPS do not have details of the staff costs. These are a matter for KPSL.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8623 by Cathy Jamieson on 11 June 2004, whether it will publish the results of the investigations carried out in connection with each release in error.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  No. This information is operationally sensitive and is exempt from publication under Section 4(b) of the Scottish Executive Code of Practice on Access to Information.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why no performance summary for the Reliance contract has been published since June 2004.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  Performance summaries are published after the relevant performance management processes have been concluded. The figures for July and August were published on 7 October.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7562 by Cathy Jamieson on 20 May 2004, what criteria it will use to determine whether there has been a fundamental breach of the contract.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  SPS interprets the contract in the light of legal advice and the relevant circumstances.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Reliance submitted the lowest bid in financial terms for the contract for the provision of prisoner escort services.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  Yes.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the public sector comparator used for the contract for the provision of prisoner escort and court custody services.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9015 by Cathy Jamieson on 30 August 2004, what the (a) costs to the police of escorting prisoners to court from police custody, (b) cost of the risks associated with escort duties and (c) opportunity costs represented by assigning (i) prison officers and (ii) police officers to escort duties were.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost to the public purse was in each of the last five years of the duties that will be taken over by Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd under the contract for the provision of prisoner escort and court custody services.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The Public Sector Comparator (PSC) used in the value for money evaluation for the Prisoner Escorts and Court Custody project is given in the following table. The value for money evaluation was conducted in line with Treasury guidance and was among the aspects of the procurement audited and recently reported on by the Auditor General.

  

 
 
 
£m


Direct costs
Staff
Police
 11.8


 
 
SPS
 4.6


 
Transport
Police
 0.6


 
 
SPS
 0.6


Indirect costs
Overheads
Police
 1.4


 
 
SPS
 1.6


Risk adjustment
 
 
 2.5


Total PSC (annual)
 23.0


Net present value over seven years
 145.3



  In this table, the direct SPS costs are those given separately in the answer to question S2W-9015; other direct costs are the equivalent figures for the police; overheads represent a proportion of the costs of training, headquarters functions and other central costs; and the risk adjustment results from analysis conducted in line with Treasury guidance and taking account of a range of quantifiable risks in the design, development, transition to and operation of the new service and the extent to which these are transferred by the contract. The annual total differs from the sum of the PSC components because of rounding.

  All answers to written PQs are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Holyrood Project

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many apprentices have been employed on the Holyrood project.

George Reid: The Holyrood Project Team has written to all Trade Package contractors involved in the Holyrood project and, from the responses received, a total of 113 apprentices have been involved in work relating to the project. Of that number, 38 were directly employed on site.

Holyrood Project

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many places have been made available for trainees on the modern apprenticeship scheme to obtain employment on the construction of the new parliament building.

George Reid: The Holyrood Project Team has written to all Trade Package contractors involved in the Holyrood project and, from the responses received, a total of 113 apprentices were employed on work relating to the project. Of that number, 38 were employed directly on site.

Scottish Parliament Procurement

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the criteria were for appointing the adviser in respect of the analysis of the preliminary financial case of the Edinburgh Tram (Line One) Bill.

George Reid: The criteria for appointment was set out in the specification for the submission of tenders. This was published as an Annexe to the minute of the Edinburgh Tram (Line One) Bill Committee meeting of 14 September 2004.

Scottish Parliament Procurement

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether, in the appointment of ArupScotland as an adviser in respect of the preliminary financial case of the Edinburgh Tram (Line One) Bill, there were any concerns raised about a potential conflict of interest as Ove Arup Scotland produced the Edinburgh LRT Masterplan Feasibility Study on which the preliminary financial case was based and, if so, what measures have been take to ensure that any conflict of interest is avoided.

George Reid: : As part of the specification for tenders to undertake an analysis of the updated preliminary financial case for the Edinburgh Tram (Line One) Bill, a statement from each tenderer on any potential conflict of interest was requested.

  The Committee was supplied with details of ArupScotland’s role when engaged by the City of Edinburgh Council and was fully satisfied that there was no conflict of interest that would prevent ArupScotland from being able to provide an independent review of the updated preliminary financial case.